No More Room in Hell
by xtrav
Summary: Of loyalty, friendship, perseverance, and zombies. Rated M for future content.
1. Chapter 1

It had been a regular, run of the mill fight with one of those creatures parents thought they made up stories about to keep their children in bed at night, safe under their blankets with their nightlights on, but unlike every other altercation this one left Sam Winchester shaken. He'd seen plenty of ghosts and ghouls and other things that went bump in the night, hell, he'd even spent lot of time with one particular demon who claimed to be on his side, although this time… there was something different this time. Not that the demon was any stronger or any smarter than ever before nor was it afraid of him… not that they ever were… in fact, this demon didn't seem to have a care in the world. It had been rambling about a dramatic event that was going to happen soon. Unfortunately, no amount of holy water made it say anything more than that. He had thought that things couldn't get any worse but something bad had to be coming if a demon was excited over it. He tried to think of something, anything, that could be happening that he and his brother hadn't already encountered. There wasn't anything that came to mind unless it was actually the apocalypse. Nobody had encountered that.

This demon sure had put up a fight, though, and Sam had the wounds to prove it. His shoulder was killing him and there was a cut about his eyebrow that felt like it was still oozing blood. One shift in facial expression would have caused the congealing cut to break open again and blind him once more with blood. That was the last thing he needed right now. He was behind the wheel of his brother's baby. The last thing he wanted was to get blood in his eyes and end up off the road in a ditch. Dean was in worse shape than Sam was. He was sprawled out in the back seat slipping in and out of conciousness, occasionally muttering something to Sam. Sam couldn't really understand what Dean was trying to say, but he took it as a good sign that he was making noise. The demon they encountered had thrown Dean around like a rag doll and Sam was pretty sure that he had a few cracked ribs and a fractured wrist. And by the looks of the swelling ankle, he had either twisted it really bad or it was fractured as well. Sam couldn't imagine the pain his brother must've been experiencing, but it had to be a lot if big, tough, macho Dean kept passing out. Or maybe it was the fact that as soon as they got back to the car Dean had chugged the bottle of vodka they kept in the first aid kit instead of using it on his scrapes like Sam had told him to.

They had to find a place to bunk down for a few days so they could treat Dean's injuries but they had a good 10 miles to go before they were even near any sort of civilization. Sam had a knot in his stomach the size of a fist as he wondered how long Dean's buzz would keep him numb and the knot tightened as he felt the car sputtering to a halt. A glance at the fuel guage proved that they were out of gas.

"Damn it, Dean," Sam muttered, more to himself than to his brother. They had been in such a rush to jump on the latest case that they had somehow overlooked that one very important detail.

"Sammy," Dean slurred from the back seat. "We're not movin'."

"We're out of gas, Dean."

"Naaah. We can't be. The tank is always filled."

Sam took the keys out of the ignition after coasting safely off the main road and onto the shoulder. He turned to look at Dean. "I wouldn't lie about being out of gas when we're not in walking distance and you aren't even fit to walk. It's one in the morning and I doubt any tow truck would come out here for us."

"So we bunk down and sleep." Dean smiled stupidly and closed his eyes.

Sam sighed and turned back around in his seat. "You say that now. Just wait until you're sober." He knew as soon as the buzz wore off Dean would feel just how fucked up he was and demand that they do something soon about his injuries. Sam just didn't want to be stuck in a car when that happened.

Sam stared out the windshield at the road ahead of them and thought through the list of contacts he had acquired over the years. There had to be somebody they could call for help. He pulled out his phone and checked the GPS, finding out the name of the town they were closest to. It was some small town in Utah, but the name was familiar. It took him a minute to realize that the name of the town had been mentioned in his father's journal in reference to another hunter he had worked a case with. All of the woman's contact information had been written down and Sam had put it all in his phone, along with all the important contacts he had. He couldn't remember exactly what her name was, only that it began with the letter N. Luckily he didn't have many contacts in his phone that began with that specific number, but he did have to call a few different people until he found the right person.

"Hello?" The woman on the other end of the line sounded tired yet expectant.

"Hi. Can I speak to Nadine Smith, please?" Sam glanced in the rearview mirror at Dean, watching as he winced a little when he pressed a bit too hard on his bummed ankle.

"You're speaking to her."

"Mrs. Smith, this is Sam Winchester. I think you worked with my dad several years ago."

"John. Yes. One hell of a fight we had."

"Yes, well. I need to ask for a favor. Me and my brother are stranded 10 miles from town and Dean is injured. Is it possible for you to help us out? He needs medical attention. I know it's a bad hour to call, but I couldn't think of any other alternative." The words just seemed to spill from his lips as if getting them all out at once would make her more open to the idea of helping them out.

"Anything for John's boys." Nadine hadn't even hesitated in answering.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Smith." Sam was honestly relieved that help was coming and that they wouldn't have to wait out the night in the car. Sure, they had done it countless timesbefore, but it wasn't the most comfortable. And Dean's comfort was what Sam was worried about for the moment.

"Please, Sam, call me Nadine. I'll be out to get you as quick as I can." Nadine had hung up before Sam could say anything else.

He sighed to himself in relief and tucked his phone back in his pocket. "Soon, Dean," he muttered to his half conscious sibling. "We'll be moving soon."

'Soon' turned out to be a little less than an hour. A silver Toyota sedan pulled up next to the broken down Impala and parked. A door opened and a woman got out of the car, hurrying over to the diver's door and knocking on the window. Sam rolled it down and looked out at the woman. "Nadine?"

Nadine nodded. "Yeah. Come on. We have to get moving. I hate being out on this road this late at night."

Sam cocked an eyebrow and got out of the Impala. "Why? Weird things happen on this road?" The hunter in him had jumped right into action.

Nadine laughed. "I took care of the ghost cars ages ago. Truckers use this road as a thoroughfare and they don't slow down for anything. You wouldn't believe how many deer have been killed here because of that."

The second wave of relief for the night swept through Sam as he helped Dean out of the car and into the back seat of the Toyota. Nadine must've had a family, Sam concluded. There were pieces of garbage on the floor of the car along with an empty tissue box and a cd case for some band he'd never heard of. His guess was they were local seeing as the cd sleeve was blatantly created with some basic graphic knowledge and was printed on regular printer paper. Too poor for the high gloss that professional cd sleeves were made of. Once Dean was nice and comfortable in the back, Sam joined Nadine in the front. "Thanks again, Mrs… Nadine."

"Dean looks pretty beat up. We'll take him to the ER and get him checked out. Better to be safe than sorry, right?" Nadine sped off towards town and Sam hoped that no truckers would zoom by through the night and crush Dean's car.

(A.N: This is my first piece of fan fiction in several years and my first dealing with the show Supernatural. I'd love some feedback and constructive criticism, just please be positive. There is more to come. Promise.)


	2. Chapter 2

The trip to the hospital was quick by small town ER standards. Dean had a couple of X-rays done which just confirmed what Sam had thought and he was taken care of accordingly. He left the hospital bandaged up and on a crutch with his sore hand in a cast with strict orders to take it easy for the next couple of weeks. Knowing his brother, Sam was sure that the cast wasn't going to last more than the drive back to… wherever it was they were going. He knew the point of it, but he also knew that Dean was so dedicated to what they did that he wouldn't let himself rest.

"You boys are coming back to my place and getting some sleep. We'll get your car tomorrow when you're good and rested and with a good meal in your stomachs," Nadine said as they made their way back to her car.

"Thanks, Nadine," Sam said with a small grin.

"A cast? Seriously? Jesus…" Dean grumbled. He dropped the crutch in the middle of the parking lot and decided to just hobble the rest of the way to the car. At least that way he managed to hang onto at least a shred of his dignity.

"Eve is on an overnight shift at the store, so the injured can take her bed as long as he promises never to use the Lord's name in vain when he's around me." Nadine smiled and gave Dean a quick glance, unlocking the doors to the car and offering her hand to help Dean in.

"Sorry," he mumbled, declining the assistance into the car.

Dean was surprisingly quiet on the drive back to Nadine's house. The sun had started to rise by the time they pulled into the driveway. Again, Dean didn't take any help out of the car or up to the front door, even though he did stumble when he put too much pressure on his injured ankle.

Almost every hunter they met over the years had basically lived alone, but Nadine was the complete opposite. There were several pairs of shoes in the front foyer varying in size and, from the look of the fairy princess wand sitting on the bench, she had a young daughter. Or a very flamboyant son. Dean hoped it was the former.

His hopes were confirmed when a little head peeked around the corner from the hall, blonde curls giving her an angelic innocence. She hid around the corner again when she noticed the two strangers looking at her.

"Lilly," Nadine called out softly.

The little girl poked her head out again then stepped out completely, her teddy bear clutched tightly to her chest.

"You should be in bed, sweetheart."

"Did you get the bad guys, mommy?" Lily asked, her voice soft from exhaustion.

Nadine smiled and crouched down next to her baby girl so she could talk to her on her level. "There were no bad guys tonight, honey. I just had to help out some friends. These are the Winchesters. Sam and Dean. They had a bit of an accident and called mommy for help. Go back to bed, now. I'll come tuck you in."

Lily nodded and hugged Nadine, giving her a kiss on the cheek before turning and running back to her room.

"She knows what you do?" Sam asked, honestly curious if Nadine had exposed the truth of the big bad world to her young child.

"No, she doesn't. She thinks I work security for some retail stores and when there's a robbery or an attempted break in I go to arrest the thieves."

"Cute kid," Dean commented, strolling farther into the house and taking a look at the décor. He thought everything looked like something straight out of a home décor magazine.

"Thank you. Eve's room is the last one on the left. I don't think she'll be home until 8 or 9, but she can take my room when she gets home. Go rest, Dean. Keep your foot up."

Dean hobbled off down the hall towards the last room on the left just like he was told. Neither he nor Sam really knew a mother figure but from what they observed over the years from the people they've met, mothers were never people you argued with. You did as you were told or else.

"How are you holding up, Sam? Do you want some tea? Coffee? I don't have an extra bed to offer, but the couch is pretty comfortable. I'll get you a pillow and some blankets." Nadine smiled at him and walked down the hall to the linen closet, opening it and pulling out an extra pillow and a couple of blankets.

"I can't thank you enough for everything, Nadine. If there's anything we can do to repay you…"

"Don't be foolish. I'm happy to help." Nadine made up the couch for Sam, turning it down nicely. It was definitely a better alternative than the motels he and Dean were used to.

Sam smiled, not really sure what else to say, or whether anything else really needed to be said. He lay down on the couch, pulled the blankets over himself, and, in nearly an instant, was fast asleep. Sometimes nights like these could really take the best out of a man.

Morning came sooner than either Sam or Dean would've cared for, but Nadine made it clear that they were not working today and that they were to rest and relax. Apparently, she was hell bent on Dean actually following the doctor's orders and was making preparations for them to stay for a while.

Sam sat at the kitchen table, eyes bleary from sleep and fingers warming up around a hot cup of coffee. His mind only vaguely registered Nadine talking to someone in the hall and didn't even look up when he was joined by another. He only looked up when the other person sat at the table with him, a cup of coffee in her hands as well. She looked a lot like Vanessa Ferlito, he noticed. And he only even realized that comparison because Dean insisted on watching Death Proof the previous week. Hot girls and hotter cars? Yeah, Dean loved the movie. Sam was pretty sure it gave him plenty of material to fantasize about and provide himself some self-loving.

"Good morning," she said, her voice quiet and a bit rough from lack of sleep.

"Morning. You must be Eve?"

The girl nodded and took a sip of her black coffee. "And you must be…?"

"Sam."

Even nodded again. "Mom said you and your brother are going to be staying a while. She's trying to find a couple of cots for you both so you don't have to sleep on the couch all the time."

"She really doesn't need to do that."

"I know. She's a kind soul. She'd help anyone out with no questions asked. Modern day saint, if you ask me."

The two sat in silence, both nursing their coffee and trying to wake up. One of the drawbacks of staying up nearly twenty four hours with only a few hours of sleep is that it's often extremely difficult to wake up the day after. Neither looked up as Dean hobbled into the room and made a beeline for the coffee. The room was silent except for an occasional hiss when Dean put too much pressure on his injured foot. He joined the two at the table.

"Talkative bunch this morning," he said as he spooned some sugar into his coffee. He looked from Sam to Eve. "I guess you're Eve?"

Eve just grunted the affirmative. She was a little pissed that Nadine had given her room away so easily, even though she did understand why. But that wasn't the point. The point was that it was her room. It was her space. She should've been asked. Or at the very least, told before she got home from work. It was a pretty bad surprise to come home to after a long night of restocking CDs and setting up displays.

"Dean." He held her hand out to her for her to shake, but she just nodded, took a sip of coffee, and got up from the table.

"I know." She left the kitchen and walked down into the basement to lock herself away in her studio for a while.

"Who pissed in her coffee?" Dean commented. He shrugged and took a huge gulp of coffee then examined his cast. He was sure that scissors wouldn't hack it. He'd need something a little more heavy duty to cut through that sucker.

"Don't even think about it." Nadine was standing in the doorway looking at Dean with a small smirk on her lips. "I know that look. I've seen it several times in the past. Your arm wont heal right if you cut it off."

"My arm isn't that bad, really."

"Oh, so you're a doctor? John said one of his boys had gone on to college, and I'm going to assume it was the one who looks smart."

Sam nearly choked on his coffee and coughed to cover up a laugh and the smirk on his face.

"I… uh… My arm is fine." Dean was convinced. It wasn't hurting so it must've been fine. Right?

"You take that off and I'm bringing you right back to the hospital." Nadine crossed her arms over her chest. It was the international "don't argue with me" mom stance, and, boy, did it work.

"Fine," Dean muttered, but still thought of ways that he could cut the cast off. Nadine couldn't watch him every minute of the day. And it wasn't like he needed her approval.

"Sam, could you go get Eve and tell her I need to see her in my room for a minute? I need to go pack some things up." Nadine left the room with a smile at the boys and headed into her room.

Sam stood from the table and headed in the direction Eve had disappeared in, finding her studio in the basement. He knocked on the closed door before opening it, seeing Eve standing in front of an easel with a palette in one hand and a brush in the other. He relayed Nadine's message when he got her attention and she laid down her art supplies to go see what her mom wanted. Sam returned to the kitchen where Dean had made himself comfortable and was munching on a bowl of Froot Loops.

They could hear Nadine and Eve talking in the room down the hall and it didn't sound very promising. They caught the word demon and that Nadine was going to be leaving for a few days to hunt the bastard. The last few sentences were muffled, but the boys could pick them out. "This is why I asked you to come home from Vegas. With your dad gone, I really need someone to look after Lily and David. And I wanted you here in case something bad happens. If I don't come back, you're their legal guardian."

Eve didn't say much to her mother, but what she did say Dean could understand completely. Eve clearly wasn't happy with the idea of being thrown into the role of mother while Nadine was gone, but he had been there, done that. Only a little over a decade earlier. He had been a child raising a child. He knew the difficulties and the constant worry of whether dad was coming home or not.

"Just call me every day and update me on what's going on. I don't want to be left in the dark," Eve said, her voice muffled by the walls and her own exhaustion.

Eve left Nadine's room after getting the promise from her mother that she'd call every day, even if it was just to say that she found a diner with the best cherry pie. She headed straight back down to her studio without even casting so much as a glance up from the floor. It was clear she was bothered by what her mom had told her. Neither Sam nor Dean went after her.

The goodbyes weren't tearful, but the Winchesters suspected that only Eve knew exactly what her mother did on her business trips. Little Lily hugged Nadine, her face buried into her stomach. David stayed back, watching Lily say goodbye and to catch the bad guys, but for a teenager he looked pretty weary. Maybe it wasn't just Eve who knew what Nadine did. He let her hug him when Lily let go, just saying a soft "yeah" when he was told to be good for Eve.

Eve looked as though she had the world on her shoulders. Her face was blank but the worry was evident in her eyes. She hugged Nadine when it was her turn.

"Don't be too much of a hero," Even whispered into her mom's ear. "Come back to us alive."

"I'll come home," Nadine said in reply and kissed the side of Eve's head. "Take care of your brother and sister."

Nadine gave both Sam and Dean hugs and reminded them that they could stay as long as they wanted then finished off with another stern warning to Dean about taking it easy on his injuries. After bidding them all one last farewell, she got into her Toyota and pulled out of the driveway.

Sam went inside with David and Lily while Dean remained outside with Eve, staring after the car driving out of sight.

"So," Dean said, trying to break the ice. "Did she mention what case she was called out on?"

"Zombies. A few towns over. It should just be a simple extermination," Even replied. Even with the knowledge that the resolution shouldn't be difficult she didn't appear to be any more at ease. "I hope."

"You hope?"

"There have been some growing issues lately with zombies. It started in tiny rural communities, but it's been getting bigger and bigger. I've heard stories of zombie herds that were a few hundred strong. Two hunters have been killed so far."

"Me and Sam didn't hear about that."

Eve looked over at Dean, her face still stone cold. "Only one of mom's hunter friends made it out alive. No hunter is stupid enough to report a zombie outbreak to the news. Do you know the riots that would start? Zombies are easy to take care of. It's people that are difficult to control. Riots would only complicate things further and make the job more dangerous for my mom."

Dean stayed silent, unsure of what to say. He never had been very good with words of reassurance. He could sympathize with Eve, though. Zombies were easy to predict. It was real people that were hard. He remained where he was as Eve turned and went back inside, staring down the road again for a few moments. He then turned to make his way back inside, shouting out to eve, "we still need to go get my car!"


End file.
